Month: March 2014

Happy spring. I’d rather renovate my LinkedIn profile than shovel snow any day!

As mentioned in an earlier LinkedIn Nugget, I was selected as a published blogger on LinkedIn. Today’s plog is also today’s LinkedIn Nugget (actually 15 nuggets rolled into one!)

See https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140331130239-203392-spring-cleaning-your-linkedin-profile

Yesterday I had the great pleasure of bookending my day with a business breakfast and an evening lecture. I learned a lot from the presenters.

In the morning Joe Connolly of WCBS Radio in New York emceed a breakfast panel discussion on current business trends to a full ballroom of entrepreneurs and professionals. He was comfortable enough after his years of experience to admit his misgivings about technology and how the younger generation has so ably handled it; the capable panelists could not have been over 30. And he opened the floor to many wide-ranging questions and allowed questioners to speak a bit about their own experience and observations. It wasn’t only about him. He asked questions, polled the audience–no doubt for observations he will weave in his characteristically short news tidbits in a future radio broadcast. Themes: experience, confidence, seeking input at all levels. That’s a truly confident person.

In the evening I listened and laughed with Bob Mankoff, cartoon editor of the New Yorker Magazine when he spoke in a standing-room-only library session about his lifelong study of humor, and how he selects 17 cartoons from hundreds he receives to appear in a weekly edition. He laughed at himself, proud of his lovingly cranky selection process (see more in the recent 60 Minutes segment), engaged the audience and seasoned his talk with videos and cartoons on the screen behind him. (I have admired Seth Godin using video in his talks too.)  Mankoff subtly pumped his new book. OK, this is him, and he makes no apologies. He knows his audience in the New Yorker and beyond, as he defines intelligent humor, contrasted to what we endure on TV (funniest videos, etc.). Themes: experience, confidence, stretching his limits. Another truly confident person.

I study public speakers’ habits and techniques. These demonstrate the traits I incorporate into my work. We all should. We all should show our desire to move beyond the tried-and-true. That’s what makes us eclipse the competition. You know that, but do you practice it?

The LinkedIn connection to all this, you ask, since my promise is a LinkedIn nugget a day?

To the outside world, does your LinkedIn personal and company profile show you, in your own words, as a pliable, growing, value-driven professional, standing out, or does it make the reader snooze? I hope it’s the former.

I am asked to speak for a lot of organizations, and some really stick in my mind. A week or so after I was on a panel at The New York State Bar Association, they snail mailed me a big envelope containing this certificate.

It’s pretty different–gold embossed, and they also included a certificate for a free class there within a year’s timeframe.

I consider this an extra special thank you and think they have a classy operation. It’s the little thank yous that count.

Take a minute to thank someone by sending them a LinkedIn recommendation without their asking you to recommend them, for some great work they did, or a skill set they have mastered that really helped you.

They’ll always remember you for the extra thank you.

Yesterday I spoke about posting updates on LinkedIn at a frequency that is right for you.  Today I want to go one step further: when someone posts too much/too frequently/not interesting material/full of jargon and acronyms.

The simple truth is that we are all attention-deprived. We want the soundbite, the executive summary, the synopsis. Sorry.

So consider:

• using a smart headline in the posting so that the reader knows exactly what you are sharing
• testing to be sure you have a correct link to the article
• referring to an article you attach and the part of it that you like/disagree with/seems controversial and worthy of discussion
• adding a graphic that illustrates or compliments the topic; color works better than black and white
• and finally using restraint in telling us how busy you are, because NO ONE cares where you are networking today, and everyday, for breakfast, for lunch and for dinner. Period.

Static is tuned out, until you earn your way back onto my radar screen.

Less is more.

How often should you post an update on LinkedIn?

Well, it depends on a few things (non-exhaustive list to follow):

• how many times you read a great article you want to share
• how often you need help from your peers (and are willing to admit they can indeed offer new insights)
• how often you have the answer to a question someone else asks (it goes both ways!)
• on how many times you have an update to your profile
• your personality: are you extroverted or introverted?
• your need to “blip” on others’ radar.

The last bullet point above is vital to being top-of-mind. Being memorable for sharing great material is part of your brand.

So no real answer to this, as you can see, as there are many variables and many factors. Your frequency is different from mine.

Rule of thumb: please post something at least once a week.  Whatever feels like “enough.”

For me it’s once or more a day. No one ever told me I post too much. I am usually  asked, “where do you find all that great stuff that I can send along to my connections??” That’s what I want to hear.

Whenever I meet someone for the first time, referrals included, I research them on LinkedIn. I was referred to Bill by a networking colleague. They had gone to school together, so that’s a deep friendship and a referral (me) from one to the other really counts!

I looked Bill up on LinkedIn ahead of the appointed time for the phone call. Not the most robust profile, but that’s why I was referred to him: to help Bill develop his “why me” to attract incremental business.

I saw Bill was connected to a nonprofit client of mine. I asked how he knew her–he volunteers at their school. Rack up one point on top of the earlier warm referral.

I told Bill that I met the client when she replaced Pat, the previous Development Director (DD) whom I knew in a former life in the 80’s. Pat was my banker when I was a corporate treasurer. Pat morphed into a DD and then my client. I morphed too from treasurer to credit card processing rep with niche marketing to nonprofits. (We enjoyed a too-short period of working together again until Pat went on to another important role, assisting her college-bound child in the “hunt.”)

“Oh you know what?” he volunteered, “Pat is my sister-in-law. That’s amazing.” Another point.

It’s a small world after all. Find your connection points even to a theoretical stranger: people, interests, schools, etc. These are gifts that LinkedIn gives you to work from.

I hope to finesse this into to a piece of business owing to the relationships that came out in a short phone call. More to this story later I hope.

Yesterday I urged you to start the dual step sign-in verification to your LinkedIn profile.

Today I suggest you add one more security step, the https:// secure internet connection to LinkedIn, especially when tapping into public wi-fi service. 

You have no doubt used this on e-commerce sites whose URL begin with “https.”

Once again, LinkedIn has easy to follow instructions to make the change to a secure connection.  You set it once, and it will protect your LinkedIn activity wherever you go by encrypting the data interchange.

LinkedIn today announced it will soon make this a default setting, but did not give a timeframe.

It is clearly important. Please take a moment like I just did, to implement this right away.

I hope you never have to wish you had done this…

Opting into two-step verification can greatly reduce identity theft and unauthorized access.  You probably already have 2 step verification for your online banking; if you don’t you should…you input your ID and password (step 1) and the bank sends you a code by email, text or phone to further authenticate you to access your bank account (step 2 in the verification).

Since you value your online reputation and want to restrict access to your LinkedIn profile to just you, I urge you to activate dual authentication on your LinkedIn profile.

Yes, it’s an extra step to input the 6 digit code they send you, but the peace of mind is worth it, especially if you access your LinkedIn profile on public wi-fi. Please take a minute to implement this for your own protection.

You have a great reputation to maintain.  

Today’s New York Times ran an article about a new social media platform that is anonymous and spooky called Secret (photo below). On Secret, anyone can post anything without any ownership or permission or responsibility.

So to clarify what LinkedIn is (and it is many things to many people) vs what it is NOT:

1. On LinkedIn, what you post is what you get.
2. Anything posted is attributed directly to the author.
3. You post news and opinions there that you truly want to reflect well on your profile and the others who are connected to you.
4. You can change anything in your profile as you progress or morph into a new position/role/industry/concept.
5. No one can say anything you have not approved.  In fact, you can hide or delete endorsements or recommendations that you do not want to appear at that moment.
6. The professional community expects professional conduct, so you won’t see pictures of kids, puppies or kitties.
7. And please folks, no more word games or number or logic puzzles.

We have more important business-savvy things to share don’t we?

Earlier this month I was asked to serve on a panel and speak about LinkedIn to attorneys, which was simulcast and video recorded.

I just got the video, and the quality is really quite good.

I attached the link to the YouTube video both to my LinkedIn personal profile and to my company profile page. It’s that easy to do.

Have you added video to your LinkedIn profiles? Why should you?

First, it’s far more memorable than the written word, and second it adds a definite richness if done properly–it shows you at your best, expressing yourself and in the spotlight.

For those of us who teach or do marketing (everyone, right?) it’s the way to show your prowess and value to an audience that wants to be shown WHY YOU.

Ok, then.

Light, action, camera!